By BOB OLIVER
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN — The Henry Ford Early College has found a new home on the campus of Henry Ford College.
The program, a five-year education option for students that offers an integrated high school and college curriculum, moved to the HFC campus last summer after the college closed its Dearborn Heights campus.
SHW Group Project Manager and Architect Marwan Houri said administrators looked at multiple locations on the HFC campus to find the best fit for the program.
“We went through different buildings, but we found that the Learning Resources Center was the best fit,” Houri said. “The building is in a great location and had enough room for what we needed.”
Administrators chose the basement of the LRC. The HFEC campus features an administration office, five general classrooms, two science classrooms and a computer lab for student use.
Construction began in June and the work was completed for the opening of school Sept. 2.
HFEC Principal Majed Fadlallah said students have been enjoying the new campus.
“They have been very responsive and very impressed with the classrooms and building,” Fadlallah said. “It is a beautiful building.”
Fadlallah said the school, which finished in the highest percentile available in the state in terms of academic performance, has a high demand from students and parents and has 54 students this year.
“There is a lot of demand for students to get into the program and I think we have been very successful,” Fadlallah said. “Our success comes from our partnership with the college and Henry Ford Health Center, of course, but mainly from our wonderful teachers, who go above and beyond and do an amazing job.”
The HFEC is a partnership between HFC, Dearborn Public Schools and the Henry Ford Health Center geared toward students interested in health care and by completing the program students can earn their high school diploma plus an associate of science degree, a career-ready certificate or two years of college credit.
“It is a very rigorous curriculum and the students work very hard,” Fadlallah said. “But it is a very meaningful experience for the students and they learn a lot.”
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the HFEC is scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 20 prior to the next board of trustees meeting.
(Bob Oliver can be reached at [email protected].)